So, my second semester here at RMIT has begun and I’m definitely looking forward to learning new things and meeting new people. One week has gone past, just like that. Our first studio class was cancelled, and Brian took over our second one this week.

What does it mean when we think about the word home? In today’s studio class, for our first exercise, we were told to illustrate what home means to us. This was what I came up with:

As I thought about it, as much as home can be a building or an area of constituted objects and artefacts that signify a home, it is also a space where there have been social connections and personal experiences of some sort. It is a place – or even a person – that makes you feel as if you belong. It is where friendships, memories and connections are made. Moreover, it is a place in which you can be yourself, with no care of what may be thought of you.

In a simple sense, home is the place we would go back to. For instance, after a long day at work, going home is often a luxury. For most people, it is the place in which they find both solitude and comfort. You can be whoever you want to be when you’re alone at home – think comfortably walking around or cooking in just a baggy T-shirt and underwear. I can assure you that most girls (and perhaps some guys) would be able to relate.

We talked about the concept of home a little more in the studio, read an excerpt from Bachelard’s “The Poetics of Space”, and also watched a short TED Talk titled “Where is home?” by Pico Iyer. I was opened to new perspectives of what home is and what it could be.

I particularly enjoyed Iyer’s TED Talk. The part I found most interesting is when he talked about staying at the monastery, and how the silence felt so much like home. He wrote a lot while he was there, and took long walks. It was in this seclusion, away from the busyness of every day life, that he regained a sense of belonging.